Europe should take the United Nations seriously

The UN, not the G20, is the forum in which to tackle the developing world’s multiple crises.

European Voice

6/24/09, 9:17 PM CET

Updated 4/12/14, 6:04 PM CET

The EU’s outgoing and incoming presidencies, the Czech Republic and Sweden, have both emphasised the importance of a global response to climate change, a process being led by the UN (“A summit to help steady the EU”, 11-17 June and “Time for the EU to focus on achieving green recovery” 18-24 June).

But at the same time the EU risks undermining the role of the UN in another area: the response to the impact of the food, economic and financial crises in developing countries. The UN is holding a crucial conference on these issues (24-26 June), but European Commission President José Manuel Barroso will not even make an appearance.

These crises are devastating for the developing world: more than a billion are hungry, exports and investment are down, remittances are drying up and capital is flowing out. The response should be bold and global.

The G20, which is limited in both membership and ambition, is not up to this task. Yet of late it has seemed to be the only horse the European Commission is willing to back. The UN is the right and legitimate forum.

There is much internal EU business that Barroso has to think of. These are not, though, reasons to forget the poor. The EU needs to help strengthen the UN’s role and capacity in global economic governance.